Inhaling compound for firemen&#39;s use.



UNITED STATES Patented April 4, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM M. MITCHELL, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

INHALING COMPOUND FOR FIREMENS USE- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 786,453, dated April 4, 1905. Application filed January 3, 1905. Serial No. 239A65.

To all whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, Jefferson county, Kentucky, have invented a certain new, useful, and Improved Inhaling Compound for Firemens Use, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others to put my invention into practice.

My invention relates to means for protecting the lives of firemen and others who may be exposed to the effects and danger of dense smoke, as in burning buildings; and my invention has special reference to an improved novel composition of matter of such character that being administered to the exposed person it will prevent suffocation.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and safe liquid compound which by inhalation may be readily administered to a person who is enveloped in a smoky atmos phere and which will operate to stimulate the respiratory and circulatory systems of the body and maintain the same in a healthy condition, thereby rendering the person practically immune to the usual effects of smoke in burning buildings.

With this object in view my invention consists in a liquid compound to be inhaled and having as its essential constituents menthol, alcohol, terebene, and aqua-ammonia in substantially the proportions hereinafter described, and particularly set forth in the appended claim.

My novel compound is a clear solution or mixture, and the constituents are ordinarily employed in the following proportions, to wit: one-half dram of menthol, fifty minims of alcohol, eight minims of terebene, and four hundred and eighty minims of aqua-ammonia. Precipitation is avoided and a clear liquid is secured in the following manner: First, onehalf dram of menthol is dissolved in thirty minims of alcohol; second, eight minims of terebene are dissolved in twenty minims of alcohol; third, the menthol and terebene solutions are thoroughly admixed; fourth, four hundred and eighty minims of aqua-ammonia are thoroughly admixed with the previous admixture or compound. Thus admixed the constituents combine in a clear liquid, which retains its clear condition and neither precipitates any solid nor stratifies even when permitted to remain quiescent for a long period. The liquid is therefore always ready for instant use.

This compound is administered by wetting a sponge or fabric therewith and placing the latter over the mouth and nostrils of the person who is to be protected from injury from dense smoke. The sponge operates mechanically to arrest the carbon and some vapors which are held in suspension in the smoky atmosphere and which would otherwise be drawn into the lungs, and the vapor which is inhaled from the sponge operates upon the mucus membrane and the whole respiratory system and also the circulatory system of the body, stimulating their action and neutralizing the effects of carbonic-acid and other poisonous gases and vapors, with the result that the body is maintained in a healthy condition and the person suffers little, if any, inconvenience or injury from even long exposure to the vitiated and poisonous atmosphere.

My novel compound, as I am aware, is capable of modification by one skilled in the art, and I therefore do not confine my invention or discovery to the specific and only constituents herein named or the exact proportions stated.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- An inhaling compound for firemens use comprising menthol, terebene, alcohol and aqua-ammonia combined in substantially the proportions herein set forth.

In testimony whereof witness my hand, this 30th day of December, 1904, at Louisville, Jefferson county, Kentucky, in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM M. MITCHELL.-

Witnesses:

H. O. WIELAND, R. I. SHERMAN. 

